with Shelly Birger Phillips
I just used a plastic dish bin with about 2 inches of warm soapy water and this great child-sized washing board from Montessori Services I also got her smock there. We put a towel down on the floor in case of spills. My daughter happily scrubbed away at these dirty rags and when she was finished washing we hung them on a drying rack to dry. This was a fun and easy activity!
My daughter first showed interest and readiness for spooning at around 17 months old. I began with this easy to use spoon and large beans. I used a clear glass jar so she could see the beans and her spoon during the entire process. And I used a beautiful hand made ceramic bowl for her to spoon into as a point of interest. She loves spooning!
A friend and I were talking the other day and she mentioned that one of her biggest challenges with providing activities for her children is knowing where they’re at developmentally. I can relate. Figuring out which activities will be engaging and challenging without being frustrating for kids can be a confusing undertaking. So here are some of the questions I ask myself as I’m preparing Montessori activities for my daughter to do at home.
1) What topic or skill is she most interested in right now?
I am super excited to announce the upcoming release of my very first book! Cracking the Kid Code will be available on October 18th. Here’s a sneak peek at some of the content.
Have you ever noticed how much young children love to open and close things? And how they’ll repeat the opening and closing action again and again? If you think about it, we open and close things all the time in our daily lives, so why wouldn’t children want to learn this important skill? One of the things that continues to surprise me about open/close activities for children is how many times they’ll repeat the action. I’ve seen kids absorbed in this work for well over thirty minutes at a time.